


Forever Always

by dirtyretro



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff and Angst, Fraternities & Sororities, M/M, Smut, Soulmate-Identifying Timers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-05-23 08:50:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14931090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirtyretro/pseuds/dirtyretro
Summary: Sheltered rich kid Jungwoo wasn't allowed to have a timer. At a college frat party, he met a boy whose timer went off the moment their eyes met.How was he supposed to know they were soulmates?





	1. High Hopes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yujaewin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yujaewin/gifts).



> ♡ Here's the [playlist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCJxL-XCsyY&list=PL4aI5u_isBFawOF4NRhEIcy-eDSOwqGDN) I made for this story.

Jungwoo was three years old when success swept his family into a whirlwind of notoriety, wealth, and drama. His life of fireflies, cartoons, and ice cream sandwiches became etiquette classes, financial reports, and filet mignon. The love his family once had crumbled under the pressure of keeping up appearances for business dinners and corporate meetings. Both his mother and his father had their timers removed because married couples being together for love instead of financial power was frowned upon in their new, superficial world.

As such, Jungwoo never grew up with a timer. Though they were labelled childish and idyllic by his now-unhappy, jaded family, he always thought them to be romantic and, dare he say, _magical._ He'd watch shows and read books celebrating the romantic breakthrough of timers, wondering if one day he'd ever meet someone he was _destined_ to love.

According to the Kim patriarch, his father, Jungwoo was to be his successor. He was to take over the family business and immediately start an internship with the corporation. His entire life he was groomed for that very purpose: a child cultivated as a financial tool instead of beloved progeny. In accordance to his father’s proclamation, Jungwoo needn’t bother with a timer and should instead focus his intentions on networking and other strategic relationships.

Jungwoo hated it. He didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. He didn’t want to be a corporate monster obsessed with money. He wanted a happy, quaint life with his soulmate and maybe a few pets and an herb garden.

The day Jungwoo sat down with his father to express his disinterest in carrying out the family business, chaos exploded in their family. Life as he knew it went awry, but unlike his to-the-book father, Jungwoo thrived in the disorder—it was new and fun and enticing; it was like fireflies and cartoons and ice cream sandwiches again.

After much consideration, his father reluctantly caved and permitted his son to branch away from the family business _if,_ and _only_ if, Jungwoo attended college and joined a fraternity. His fraternity.

A _legacy_ , they called it. A legacy was a brother, son, or grandson of a current or former fraternity member. _Jungwoo_ was a legacy of his father’s old fraternity, Lambda Phi Gamma.

His father insisted on it, crediting his fraternity days as laying the foundation of the impressive networking empire that helped generate the success he enjoyed today. Maybe being around _‘business-minded individuals’_ would help Jungwoo _‘think straight,’_ were his father’s words.

When Jungwoo resisted, insisting wild parties and promiscuity weren't his thing, his father was quick to correct him that it was a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood. His father also added that Jungwoo wouldn't have to try that hard to get in because of the prestigious Kim family name, which for some reason left a bitter taste in Jungwoo's mouth.

He didn't like the idea of being given something without earning it. The hypocrisy was not lost on him, however, as he was fully aware that his life up to this point had been a result of _exactly_ that—entitlement over personal accomplishment; birthright over hard work. But since his father was paying for him to go to university, he acquiesced and researched all he could about Lambda Phi Gamma. After all, it was better to keep his father happy.

In August Jungwoo left his family mansion to embark on his new journey. When he was dropped off at the university gates, the Kim family servants helped him carry his suitcases to the dorms (his busy, executive parents couldn’t be bothered, naturally). Due to financial influence, he was able to score a larger dorm room, but still had to share with a roommate, something Jungwoo actually requested.

After the servants left, Jungwoo sat atop his unmade bed alone. It was hard and springy and terrible, but he loved it. The room was barren and stark white, only random specks of color accented the otherwise dull tile. There were two beds on either side of the room. A window in the middle of the wall cast sunlight into the dark room as if dividing the room in half.

Jungwoo was so nervous, so scared, unsure of what to do and where to go and how to do it. He'd never been left to do anything by himself before, and though the thought terrified him, he was excited for the opportunity to _finally_ be his own person and make his own choices.

Just when he collected the wherewithal to do something productive, the door opened and a handsome boy with black hair strolled in with no other bags but a overstuffed backpack draped over his shoulder. Immediately he smiled a pearly smile, and Jungwoo mimicked the action.

"Hey, what's up? I'm Jeno. You my roommate?" The black haired boy greeted, like talking to strangers was something he was good at. Ah, the blessing of the extrovert.

"Um, I think?" Jungwoo perked up. "I'm Kim Jungwoo. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance!"

"Hah, okay... Same?" Jeno laughed, his eyes squished into crescent shapes. He walked across the room and threw his backpack onto the empty bed across from Jungwoo. "Are you always that formal? Because, I gotta tell you, that's gonna be weird for me."

"Oh… sorry..." Jungwoo didn't know what to say. He swallowed hard and studied Jeno’s lack of baggage. "I-I can help you, um, bring the rest of your bags in?"

Jeno laughed. "Only got one, thanks though!"

Again, Jungwoo replied awkwardly. "Oh..." Suddenly, he felt very self-conscious about the small village of suitcases bordering his bed. Did he overpack? Did his roommate underpack? What was the correct formula of packing for college?  

"I'm a light packer, I guess." Jeno shrugged and unzipped his backpack. "Aiming for that minimalist life." A mountain of clothing burgeoned from the fabric confines. Beneath the clothes was a folded up poster with torn corners.

Jungwoo quirked a brow. "Minimalist life?"

"Yeah, you know, that thing from Buzzfeed? Minimalism." Jeno mumbled as he unfolded the poster. It made a crinkling sound as he smoothed it over the white wall and poked a thumbtack through the wear-holes already in the top of the poster.

Jungwoo couldn’t see the poster his roommate hung up, just the broad shape of Jeno’s back as he fussed with the poster on the wall. "Buzzfeed?"

Jeno shot a glance over his shoulder and chuckled. "Are you even from this planet?"

"Last I checked." Jungwoo squeaked. God, was he really this out of touch with his peers?

Jeno moved from his spot at the wall to reveal the poster he’d hung up—a mostly naked, busty redheaded woman in a fire red devil costume wielding a red, plastic pitchfork. Immediately Jungwoo turned bright red, as red as the model’s costume, and looked away embarrassed and flustered. Jeno’s laughter filled the room again. “What? Never seen a Playboy pin-up before?”

“N-no,” Jungwoo admitted, now embarrassed at the fact that Jeno remained so cool and calm. Were boys his age supposed to be into that type of thing? She was hot, yeah, and the photo made him tingle in ways he never really explored, but to be so flagrantly open about something so erotic was a completely foreign concept to him. “What about _timers?”_

“What about them? Sex and love are different things, you know,” Jeno challenged.

Damn it! He was out of touch _and_ naive. He was the lamest college roommate ever. “Oh… yeah…”

Jeno cocked his head and stared at his roommate. “You sure you’re from this planet? This is, like, college 101.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. It’s my first year.” Jungwoo’s blush was a mild pink now, but bashfulness clung to his tone of voice. _Of course_ his roommate was a cool, suave ladies’ man. And Jungwoo was just a loser. Great.

Jeno furrowed his eyebrows. “Really? I could’ve sworn you were older than me.”

“1998…” Jungwoo tried to clarify, which only confused Jeno more. “I-I wasn’t originally gonna go to college. I was supposed to inherit my father’s business, but...” He trailed off, sitting in momentary silence before just changing the subject altogether. “Um, what about you?”

“2000. I’m in my second semester. Studying mechanical engineering. Sucks a lot. Blah blah. So, you’re new to college life? Like, completely new? You’ve been to parties and stuff, though, right?” Jeno basically rambled, treating Jungwoo like a fascinating specimen he was suddenly very curious about discovering.

Jungwoo shook his head.

Jeno looked shocked. “Holy shit! Dude, I have _a lot_ to show you!” He regarded Jungwoo for a second, then recalled a brightly colored poster taped to the wall in the hallway. “I saw a poster outside about a Lambda Phi Gamma party—”

Jungwoo’s eyes widened. _Lambda Phi Gamma._ That was the fraternity his dad was in! That was the fraternity he was supposed to rush. He could hear his father’s voice in the back of his head urging him to explore a potential networking opportunity. Smart investing, or whatever.

“Yes!” He blurted, then felt nervous about cutting Jeno off. “I-I mean, yes. I wanna go.”

Jeno grinned. “Hell yeah! Let’s do it!”

Jungwoo grinned back.

“Wear the sluttiest clothes you got.”

Jungwoo frowned.

“Oh, and how do you feel about blue hair?”

+

The Lambda Phi Gamma party took place at the Greek housing section of campus. It was a Saturday night glow party with neon glow sticks, black lights making white objects blue, fluorescence, girls in neon bras, and glowing vodka shots. Unoriginal EDM blared from speakers stuffed in the corners of almost every room.

The frat house was massive, almost as large as the mansion Jungwoo grew up in, and resembled Greek architecture while maintaining the red brick aesthetic of the university itself. The Greek letters for Lambda Phi Gamma—ΛΦΓ—were plastered on the face of the building in a bold, white color. Poorly-maintained landscaping decorated the grounds outside the building, but Jungwoo mostly focused on the alarming amount of toilet paper draped over all the shrubs and trees.

Why would anyone want that? Was that another weird college quirk?

Inside, the floor was sticky from split alcoholic drinks (and hopefully nothing else; ew), and the air smelled distinctly of sweaty men and two week-old trash. Jungwoo found it utterly impressive that so many people were crammed into one space. Highlighted in neon yellows and pinks, it looked like one of those rave parties he saw on MTV.

Drunk girls, drunk guys, drunk non binaries, drunk couples, drunk singles—everyone was drunk, sloppy, and splattered in neon. Red solo cups littered the floor. Empty pizza boxes and soggy potato chips from when a drunk girl accidentally spilled spiked punch in the chip bowl, dirtied the kitchen counters. Honestly, it was all pretty gross and smelled a little repulsive but for some reason everyone seemed to be having the time of their life.

_“Welcome to college!”_ Jeno shouted, jabbing Jungwoo in the ribs with his elbow and smiling amusedly. “Whaddya think?”

Jungwoo grimaced as he watched a couple makeout in such an uncoordinated way on their way to the designated makeout couch that they almost flopped on the floor. Not cute. “It’s… kinda dirty.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself~”

Jungwoo never wore clothing so daring; he felt almost naked in just a thin orange t-shirt and white skinny jeans. He was never allowed to wear jeans devoid of color by his father, let alone _pay_ any money for jeans with holes and rips intentionally in them. Jeno reassured him that he looked good, that he actually looked his age, that he looked _hip_ (was it even hip to call things hip anymore?).

He stood out like a sore thumb at the party, but not because of his clothes. In fact, his clothes were the indication that he was an actual college student attending a frat party. It was the way he carried himself, the way he stood in odd places for prolonged periods of time observing partygoers that gave away how out of touch with his peers he was.

When Jungwoo saw one partygoer in particular, his heart skipped a beat. “Who is that?” he blurted, not realizing he actually asked it out loud.

Jeno cackled and quirked a brow. “That guy? That’s Wong Yukhei. He’s in the frat.” A cute, pink blush crept across Jungwoo’s cheeks. Jeno laughed again and nudged the boy with his elbow. “I didn’t know you were into guys?”

Jungwoo flinched and blinked repeatedly like he had just been slapped in the face with a realization. He swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke through a nervous stammer. “Uh… I… I was just wondering who he was…”

Wong Yukhei was a member of Lambda Phi Gamma. Since his freshman year, he took the fraternity by storm. With his personality and charm, he never worried about rejection. He was one of the first pledges to be chosen and quickly gained a reputation not only within the fraternity itself, but across campus too.

After two years in the fraternity, he had a lot of potential to advance up the hierarchy. He was the ideal candidate for Lambda Phi Gamma president, but he couldn’t tone himself down. He was higher up than he realized himself to be and was highly respected by many, but he just couldn’t get his shit together.  
  
Yukhei was a party animal addicted to keg stands and beer pong. Hell, everyone on campus knew about Lambda Phi Gamma’s wild parties _because_ of him. He was the life of the party who knew how to have a good time, who knew how to encourage others have a good time. He’d wake up hungover only to party again that night. Because of this, he never showed up to class and struggled to pass each semester by barely scraping by. He was hot, too, and he knew it; he could convince anyone to do his homework for him, but he always forgot to ask. He was the cliche frat fuckboy everyone loved to hate.

That was the thing, though… No one could hate him once they got to know him.

Yukhei knew everyone on campus. People _liked_ being around him. He’d remember small details about people he met, bringing them up in conversation and making the other person feel valued. He was a social butterfly with genuine connections across campus.

Jeno stared at Jungwoo. _“...Right.”_

“Right what?” Jungwoo asked, feeling called out for no reason. “He just… he looks important and popular…”

“And hot?”

Jungwoo tried to appear nonchalant. “He’s good-looking, sure.”

Jeno snickered and hummed an _‘mhmmm,’_ before leaving to fetch some alcohol for Jungwoo and himself. Jungwoo tried to calm his fluttering heart.

After a few minutes, Jungwoo shifted awkwardly as people drunkenly bumped by, his arms crossed over his chest as he felt awkwardness consume him. He hadn’t really had an alcoholic beverage outside of a formal business party at his father’s mansion. Wealthy people were often vinos and his father was no exception; Jungwoo’s few alcoholic experiences were with the finest wine exclusively served in long-stemmed wine glasses. He never developed a taste for the bitter tannins, so he never drank unless he had to.

Safe to say, he was quite stricken when Jeno returned from the kitchen with a red Solo cup reeking of straight up liquor.

“What’s in this?” Jungwoo grimaced after smelling the liquid in the cup.

Jeno laughed and shrugged. “It’s like four different drinks mixed together.”

_“Four?”_ Jungwoo gawked, eyes wide as saucers.

“Yeah, something red, something yellow, definitely vodka, and I think rum?”

Mouth agape, Jungwoo stared at Jeno. “...I’m going to die at my first college party.”

Smiling his pearly white smile that always charmed the ladies, Jeno looped an arm over Jungwoo’s shoulder. “You’ll be alright. Cheers!” He clanked his cup against Jungwoo’s, the colliding plastic making an underwhelming sound before Jeno chugged all the liquor in his cup in one go.

Horror-stricken, Jungwoo watched Jeno glug down the mystery mix like a seasoned pro. He stared down into the cup, seeing his face in the reflection of the shiny liquid. What if there were drugs in his drink? Wasn’t that always on the news? College kids getting, what was it, roofied? Ugh, Jeno was his friend, he wouldn’t do something like that. Jungwoo sighed; god, he was such a loser.

With a forced smile, he looked at Jeno and took his first sip. Immediately, he spat it out. “Ew! This is disgusting!”

Jeno busted out laughing. “Well, yeah. It’s not supposed to taste good, it’s supposed to get you drunk. Potency over taste, man. It’s the most efficient way.”

“That is terrible… and makes a lot of sense.”

“I ain’t no rookie.” Jeno winked. “Allow me to be your alcoholic shaman.”

“I—” Jungwoo wanted to say that it sounded dangerous, that drinking to get shitfaced was not smart, but he had spent his entire life always making decisions based on what was right, not what was fun. He was sheltered from danger, and had nothing interesting in his life to show for it. “Okay. Be my shaman.”

Jeno smiled again. “Drink up, friend.”

And Jungwoo did.

A lot.

So much that he somehow lost Jeno and was too freaked out to navigate the giant frat house alone, so he gravitated to an isolated corner and hoped his confident, veteran college friend would find him instead.

With both hands Jungwoo held his red Solo cup and nibbled his bottom lip. He eyed people as they passed, feeling uncomfortable when they eyed him back. In his nervousness, he gulped down all contents in his cup, making that his fourth official drink of the night. He felt droopy and lightheaded and happy; his body seemed to sway without actually swaying. He had never been drunk before. Tipsy maybe, but never drunk.

Actually, he didn’t really know what being drunk was _supposed_ to feel like, but he knew he was somewhere around the _very, very drunk_ delineation.

After an electronica remix of a popular pop song ended, a few drunk girls left the dance floor to fuel up on more sickly sweet alcohol they definitely did not need more of. In that brief clearing on the neon-lit dance floor, Jungwoo glanced up from his cup to see the pretty blonde frat boy Jeno told him about at the beginning of the party. What was his name? Yuk… _Yukhei?_

Yukhei wore an oversized white tank top, a neon orange sweatband that mushed his dirty blonde bangs, a matching sweatband on his left bicep and wrist, and a tightish pair of faded jeans that showed off his long legs. Needless to say, he attracted everyone’s attention.

He certainly attracted Jungwoo.

From across the room Jungwoo watched the popular blonde boy talk to a group of other frat fuckboys. The way they listened to him as he told stories made Jungwoo want to hear his stories too.

In the small crowd of frat boys on the other side of the dance floor, Yukhei erupted into laughter. His eyes crinkled as he laughed, and the warmth of his joy oozed into the stories and jokes he told to his brothers. As another boy took over the conversation, Yukhei fell to a listening role. As he listened, he got the feeling he was being watched. He looked out to the crowd, seeing nothing until a blue blur lingered in his periphery—he did a double-take to refocus on the blur.

Across the sea of drunken college students was the most gorgeous person he had ever seen. Tall, sapphire blue hair, skin like porcelain; a very lost looking boy.

Suddenly, intense euphoria washed over Yukhei like a tidal wave of bliss.

_Wait,_ wasn’t that the feeling when… _oh shit,_ his timer started counting down yesterday…

Could it be?

Trying not to appear too alarmed in front of his frat brothers, Yukhei turned his wrist and slid his neon orange sweatband up to reveal the shiny surface of the timer implant he kept hidden.

00:01:03s.

_Holy shit._ Was that lost boy his… _his soulmate?_

His heart throbbed. His skin paled. His throat went dry.

So early? He was only twenty. His frat brothers already teased him for getting a timer. They were going to give him _so_ much shit for this.  
  
Yukhei’s hazel gaze flickered between his timer and the boy across the room. Damn, Cupid shot him right through the heart.

00:00:16s.

What was he supposed to do? What was the protocol? Did it go off when they made eye contact? Was he supposed to approach the boy? Did they have to speak to each other?

Yukhei’s eyes widened when the lost boy from across the room walked toward him. As if pulled like a magnet, he walked to the boy. In the middle of the dancefloor under intense, neon green light, they met. They were surrounded by other drunk partiers, but they only saw each other; they could _only_ see each other.

“Uh, hi,” Jungwoo managed, his heart racing so fast in his chest he could hear his own heartbeat over the music. He never talked to boys like this before—never a gruff-looking bad boy like the blonde frat boy, and never in a way that made him feel like he was on Cloud Nine.

Jungwoo believed in things like love at first sight, but deep down he knew it was silly. Love, as he witnessed it with his own parents, was neatly packaged and convenient. He never cared for the girls his father invited over for business dinners; he knew his father wanted him to marry into wealth, but he never paid the girls any mind. He told himself it was the idea of marrying for _money_ that he wasn’t into, but the girls were fine, they were pretty, they were sweet. One day he’d find the loveliest girl and he’d marry for love. _One day_.

So why was his heart pounding in his chest in an undeniably romantic way for a _boy?_

Was this how people with timers felt?

“Hey,” Yukhei replied in a gentle voice. “I’m Yukhei. What’s your name?”

Jungwoo stared, dumbfounded. He didn’t know how to talk to people. How was he going to talk to this incredibly attractive boy who he was having his first very real, very awkward crush on? Wasn’t alcohol supposed to help with that? Liquid courage or whatever. He cleared his throat, overly conscience of the long pause and feeling shy under pressure.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I-I guess I misread signals,” Yukhei finally said, smiling politely at Jungwoo but noticeably disappointed by their brief interaction. He rubbed the sweatband on his wrist, cursing the inaccuracy of something so crucial to his life. He was so sure, too. “I’ll see you around.”

Yukhei turned to leave only to be snagged on the arm by Jungwoo.

“I don’t know how to talk to… I… I think you’re cute, please don’t leave.”

Never had Yukhei been so flattered by a simple compliment. The shy way it was said made him blush. Maybe the timer was right after all.

“Are you flirting with me?” Yukhei teased with a sexy smile. The sexiest smile Jungwoo had ever seen.

Jungwoo wheezed. “I don’t know.”

Yukhei laughed, amused at how flustered the other was. He studied the nervous energy floating around him and decided to break the ice himself one more time. “What’s your name?”

“Jungwoo.”

_“Jungwoo,”_ Yukhei repeated, smiling brighter when Jungwoo blushed at the way Yukhei said his name. “I like that name.”

Jungwoo looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment. “You’re tall,” he said because he was new at this whole flirting thing.

“You’re tall too.” Yukhei parrotted. He scanned Jungwoo’s shy, reserved demeanor. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you seem pretty vanilla for a guy with blue hair.”

Jungwoo’s brows furrowed. “Vanilla?”

“Nevermind…” Yukhei smiled again. “It’s cute. I like the blue.”

Jungwoo ruffled the hair on the back of his head that was still stiff from being freshly dyed only a few hours before. “Thanks.”

“Wanna dance?” Yukhei asked, offering his hand to the blue haired boy. Jungwoo nodded, smiling, and took his hand.

They danced to terrible music and Jungwoo pretended he didn’t have two left feet. He laughed at Yukhei’s ridiculous jokes and was swept up in the whimsy of the frat boy’s hazel eyes. The synergy between them was strong and passionate—no doubt the bond of soulmates. Yukhei found himself eying Jungwoo’s wrist for a timer, but the lighting was poor and the alcohol messed with his attention span.

The alcohol also piqued his libido. Jungwoo was absolutely his type. Those lips, god, Yukhei wanted nothing more than to taste them.

_“Jungwoo,”_ Yukhei’s voice was like a sultry song; the melody was heaven in Jungwoo’s ears. “Can I kiss you?”

Oh. _Oh God._ Jungwoo panicked. He never kissed someone before! Even in his wildest dreams he never kissed someone so attractive, let alone a boy. His brain screamed at him. What was he supposed to do? Uh-oh, he was taking too long to reply. “Yea—”

Yukhei’s lips were on his before he could finish, and it was magical and awkward but mostly magical. He stood there like a puckering, dead fish, but Yukhei was so soft and cool. Jeez, what did he even see in a loser like Jungwoo? When Yukhei wrapped his arms around Jungwoo’s waist, Jungwoo internally flailed and his stomach was assaulted by butterflies.

When Yukhei pulled away, Jungwoo’s eyes were still closed, his lips still parted. “Wanna go upstairs with me?”

Eyes fluttering open, Jungwoo stared dreamily at Yukhei. “Okay.”

+

Yukhei’s room was dark except for the whitish-blue glow of his laptop screen. The blinds of his window were open, but the moon was hardly a sliver in the sky so only the essence of a dark blue night accompanied glow of the laptop.

As Yukhei fussed with Spotify on his laptop, Jungwoo sat on the frat boy’s unmade bed and curled his fingers into the knee holes of his jeans. He was nervous. Obviously he knew why Yukhei invited him up to his bedroom, and obviously he wanted to be here, but his heart wouldn’t stop pounding.

He drank too much and was being reckless. This was reckless, right? Was this his intuition telling him to stop and go home? Kissing Yukhei on the dance floor was the most amazing first kiss of his entire life, but he wasn’t sure if he should go further.

He wanted to, but he was apprehensive… perhaps a bit timid, too. He’d never done anything like this before, not with someone else at least. Someone as gorgeous was Yukhei surely had slept with tons of people. He’d laugh if he found out Jungwoo was a _virgin._

“You look really good in this lighting,” Yukhei said with a sexy grin as he turned around. He looked Jungwoo up and down, then bit his bottom lip. How one action could be so hot was unfathomable to Jungwoo, but it alone culled the anxious babbling of his mind.

“You look really good too,” Jungwoo said dumbly, as if hypnotized by Yukhei. He swallowed the lump in his throat and ignored how quickly his heartbeat increased the closer the frat boy got.

He had a damn near heartattack when Yukhei smirked and pulled off his shirt, revealing a slim, athletic body. Jungwoo didn’t know what to do, so he panicked and looked away like ogling Yukhei’s body was rude or something. His cheeks were hot and pink, his breath was shallower, and, oh god, he popped the biggest boner in the history of mankind.

“Why so shy?” Yukhei teased as he pressed a knee into the bed next to Jungwoo. Caressing a finger along his jawline, his stopped at his chin and swiped the pad of his thumb over Jungwoo’s bottom lip, subconsciously biting his own bottom lip again. “I want to see you too.”

Um, wow.

Jungwoo’s stared blankly at Yukhei, completely enamored with his, well, everything. When the frat boy lifted an eyebrow curiously, Jungwoo mewled, his fingers shyly grabbing the hem of his shirt. He pulled his shirt off and threw it to the ground, feeling exposed under Yukhei’s hungry gaze.

Yukhei groaned. “You’re so hot.” He reeled Jungwoo in for a kiss, greedily swallowing every whimper the blue haired boy made as he gently laid him back onto the bed. He straddled him and deepened the kiss, hands threading through his blue hair as Jungwoo timidly wrapped his arms around the frat boy. When Yukhei grinded against Jungwoo, the latter flinched and moaned, his hands clinging to Yukhei’s hips.

“You’re noisy, aren’t you? I like that.” Yukhei’s voice was raspy against Jungwoo’s neck as he spoke, and he punctuated his words with gentle lovebites. Jungwoo’s body responded for him as he reciprocated Yukhei’s advances, his own hips rolling up to meet the frat boy’s to create a delicious friction between them. Yukhei was so hard, and fuck, Jungwoo was too. Everything felt amazing.

Too amazing.

Uh-oh, he was going to cum before they even did anything.

“Um, uh, can you stop for…” Jungwoo paused to collect himself. “A second?”

As requested, Yukhei stopped and propped himself up off Jungwoo’s torso with his forearms. He looked at the other with concern. “You okay?”

Again, Jungwoo didn’t know what to say and panicked. He definitely couldn’t tell this ultra hot mega babe that he was about to cream his pants because he was a virgin; that would be so not cute, right? “I-I’m sorry, I don’t really know what to do...”

Great. Like that was any better.  
  
Yukhei pushed loose strands of hair up and out of his face. In a low voice, he teased, “What? Is it your first time with a guy?”  
  
Instead of a wild heartbeat, Jungwoo’s heart virtually stopped altogether. His voice was small. God, this was so embarrassing. “...Yeah.”  
  
Yukhei sat up completely and moved off of Jungwoo. “Wait, for real?”  
  
Jungwoo nodded and gulped as he watched the frat boy’s entire demeanor change.  
  
“So you’ve never been with a guy? Have you ever kissed one?” Yukhei asked, studying Jungwoo’s face carefully.  
  
Jungwoo promptly averted his gaze elsewhere as a blush pinkened his cheeks. He fidgeted with the wrinkles in the duvet.  
  
“Damn. So I’m your first?” Yukhei’s voice lilted as he spoke.  
  
The pinkness of Jungwoo’s cheeks deepened.  
  
Yukhei’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, you’ve been with girls before, right?”  
  
Pink cheeks turned magenta.  
  
“Holy shit! Are you a virgin?”  
  
Magenta turned fire red.  
  
“Fuck, that’s _hot.”_ Yukhei drank in Jungwoo’s entire body from his cute, red face down his naked torso to the impressive tent pitched in his jeans. Licking his lips, he fought the impulse to touch it. “Can I blow you?”  
  
Jungwoo’s throat went dry. That was most definitely not the expected reaction, and though he was pleased it didn’t turn Yukhei off, his head was spinning and he felt sick. Jeno’s red Solo cup concoction was finally hitting him in all the worst ways.

“I don’t feel so well…” He muttered as he sat up. Oh. Bad move. The position change stirred something foul inside him. He felt sour and gross and oh… _oh no._ He suddenly hunched forward and puked on Yukhei’s bedroom floor. “Oh my god, I’m so sorr—” He clamped his hand over his mouth. _No,_ not again. He needed to find a bathroom. “I gotta go.”

Jungwoo stood up, wobbly, and pushed through the bedroom door. Yukhei shot up from the bed and pursued him, stopping at the door frame. He figured Jungwoo was probably embarrassed enough at having vomited on someone’s floor, so shouting down a hallway full of people wouldn’t help anything. He’d be better off leaving well enough alone.

Yukhei frowned as he watched the sick boy weave through clumps of people before disappearing entirely.

+

Jeno stepped outside to smoke a cigarette when he found a sad-faced Jungwoo sitting on the curb outside the frat house. He looked downtrodden with his arms folded over his stomach staring at the cracks in the road. Jeno stuffed the cigarette back into the pack and approached his roommate.

“Why outside? And why so sad?” He asked, spooking Jungwoo in the process. When he sat down next to his roommate, he was startled at how pale he looked. “Whoa, are you okay?”

Jungwoo pouted. “I’m so mortified I could die.”

“What happened?” Jeno asked.

“He’s never gonna talk to me ever again. Oh my god.” Jungwoo covered his face with his hands and sighed shakily. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

“Dude, what happened?”

“I was in that frat boy’s room, you know, the one you told me about. We were gonna… and then I got sick and puked on his floor.”

Wow, okay. Not what Jeno was expecting to hear. “Oh shit.” He wasn’t the best at comforting people, not even his friends, but he tried his best. “Are you feeling okay? Are you still sick?”

“Yeah but mostly embarrassed. Like…” Jungwoo couldn’t finished his sentence before tears fell down his face. His first college party and he fucked it up. He really was a loser. He cried in his hands for a few minutes as Jeno tried to console him with a comforting hand. Sniffling, he mumbled, “I just want to go back to the dorm.”

“Okay, yeah, we can do that.” Jeno replied, hesitating for a moment before adding, “Is there anything I can do for you right now?”

Jungwoo shook his head, so they made they their way back to the dorms.

 


	2. Poolside Convo

Time healed all wounds, or so they said.

Not that Jungwoo was suffering from a wound per se, just the most humiliating experience of his entire life. It helped having a friend to talk to, but Jeno was more of the nonchalant type that shouldered things well; he didn't exactly offer advice Jungwoo could relate to. Actually, he couldn't relate to a lot of things at university.

The more Jungwoo tried to adjust to his life as a college student, the more he realized how drastically his upbringing outcasted him from a normal young adult life, like playing violent video games, or drinking cheap alcohol that gave him a headache, or treating his roommate to lunch because it wasn't healthy to only eat PB&Js and he had the money to do it anyway, or almost losing his virginity but ruining it by puking on a cute boy's bedroom floor.

Or that contrary to his parents' disbelief in timers, a lot of people genuinely _gushed_ about the concept of soulmates. Even nonchalant people like Jeno.

Laying on his bed in his dorm, Jungwoo listened to a hip hop album on YouTube that Jeno recommended through his earbuds as he scrolled through Instagram on his phone. Everyone he saw proudly showed off timers in their pictures, some even captioning their pics with their personal countdown and a bunch of heart emojis.

He swiped a thumb over his wrist where his timer would be if he had one, and his heart ached at the thought of everything he was missing out on. What if he already met his soulmate? How would he know if he did? Would it feel like a silly crush?

Like how he felt when he was with Yukhei?

 _Ugh._ Jungwoo rolled his eyes at himself for getting caught up in his feelings. This was supposed to be a fifteen minute study break from his physics homework, not a sappy mope session. And, oh, fifteen minutes became twenty-two and all of the sudden the will to study was gone, replaced with three minutes of accidentally exploring the ASMR tag on Instagram and one abrupt second of Jeno bursting through the door with a purple haired friend Jungwoo had never met before.

"Oh shit, I forgot you were studying!" Jeno did look sorry, but only a little. He threw his backpack on the floor and kicked off his shoes.

Popping out his earbuds, Jungwoo sat up from the bed and smiled. "It's okay... I kind of gave up on it." He flashed a smile at Jeno's friend. "Hi! I'm Jungwoo. I'm Jeno's roommate."

"Yeah, I figured." The friend sat on Jeno's bed like he was their third roommate. Jungwoo didn’t know what to make of his boldness. "Oh, sorry, Jeno already told me about you. Anyway, I'm Doyoung. I used to be Jeno’s roommate.”

Ah, old roommates, that explained the casual attitude. Jungwoo extended his arm for a handshake. "Pleased to meet you!"

"You're right," Doyoung turned to look at Jeno. "He is really formal."

Jeno laughed as Doyoung actually shook Jungwoo’s hand. "Yeah, he says the weirdest shit. He's not even trying to be a hipster, either. He's just like that."

"I love it. Let's be best friends.” Doyoung moved to sit next to Jungwoo on his bed. He couldn’t help but notice Jungwoo’s bare wrist. Curiosity struck him. "You don't have a timer? I've literally never seen anyone without a timer before."

"See? Hipster without trying," Jeno mumbled, half paying attention as he dug through his mini fridge for a half-empty can of yellow Monster.

Jungwoo felt kind of like a specimen under a microscope. While he was sensitive to being called out about his lack of a timer, it was nice to talk in the open about it. Here, timers weren’t taboo; his feelings weren’t taboo. “I, um, wasn’t allowed to have one growing up. My father is a businessman and says a soulmate is a fake concept made up by advertising companies so they could sell timers.”

Doyoung’s face twisted into a scowl. “Wow, that’s fucked.”

“Yeah, you never told me that.” Jeno said, reeled back into the conversation.

Jungwoo shrugged but said nothing. He looked down, away, anywhere other than at Jeno or Doyoung. The atmosphere shifted and he felt self-conscious because of it. Dammit, he shouldn’t have said anything.

Sensing Jungwoo’s uneasiness, Doyoung put his arm around him comfortingly. They just met, but he could tell Jungwoo was a sensitive person who probably liked hugs, or at least he hoped he was because the hug was already happening. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit a nerve.”

“It’s okay, it’s not because of you… I come from a wealthy family… I’m supposed to marry strategically or something. I was actually going to start working at my dad’s company but I didn’t want to. My family agreed to let me go to college on the condition I join my dad’s old frat… supposed to network for when I graduate and finally buy my dad’s company.”

Doyoung’s eyebrows shot up into his purplish hair. “I literally only thought people like you existed in the movies. Like, what you just said is totally a soap opera plot.”

Gulping down the rest of his Monster, Jeno asked, “So you’re a legacy? That’s why you wanted to go to the Lambda Phi Gamma party?”

Jungwoo simply nodded.

“Nooo. You’re a cinnamon roll too pure for the frat world.” Doyoung squeezed Jungwoo tight. “Frat boys are assholes. They just party and drink and fuck and use people.”

“Not all of them…” Jungwoo muttered as he nervously picked at the skin around his nails.

“Frats have a bad rap, yeah, but not all of them are like that. Doyoung’s just bitter because he dated one in freshman year.” Jeno gave Doyoung a look that said to ease up. He did so reluctantly.

“Whatever. If you’re gonna rush a frat, you can’t do it alone. They’ll eat you alive.” Doyoung stared at Jeno but spoke to Jungwoo. “I’ll be your trusty advisor.”

+

According to Doyoung’s itinerary from last year’s rush schedule, the first step to joining a fraternity was to attend Greek Night.

Several weeks of class, homework, and crying over exams later, Greek Night arrived on the Thursday night before Jungwoo’s physics exam. Held in the Student Union, he and Doyoung attended it together, just as the elder promised. It was co-ed, so booths of sororities and fraternities alike surrounded the perimeter of the spacious ballroom where the event was held. Jungwoo found it interesting the varied ways each organization represented themselves to others, whether it be via bedazzled paddles or crushed beer cans crafted into greek letters. Each organization’s aesthetic was unique and appealing in their own way, Jungwoo thought, though none were particularly interesting to him.

Nevertheless, they stopped at several fraternity booths (thanks to Doyoung’s more extroverted confidence). Doyoung did a great job breaking the ice and introducing himself and Jungwoo. All Jungwoo had to do was ask a few questions and throw in some witty jokes to make people laugh, then pretend like he wasn’t mortified at himself for being so awkward around people. Though Doyoung reassured him, he couldn’t shake his self-embarrassment.

Eventually he’d work himself up enough to chat with the fraternity he was _actually_ there for.

After taking a short snack break at the vending machine to sate their sweet tooths, they returned to the Student Union ballroom arguing over which Skittles flavor was the best. So far, red and purple were tied. When Jungwoo dropped a purple Skittle on the floor, he bent down to pick it up but dropped it the instant he noticed Yukhei standing not but ten feet from him.

He shot up and smacked Doyoung on the arm. “That’s _him!_ That’s Yukhei.”

Doyoung pulled a _‘wtf?’_ face at Jungwoo and rubbed his arm. “Okay, first of all, ow. Second,” he followed Jungwoo’s finger pointing at a guy in a red, backwards snapback. _“Him?_ Damn, he’s hot.”

“What? Didn’t you just finish ranting to me about how much frat boys suck?” Jungwoo jeered.

Doyoung clicked his tongue. “Yeah, but I didn’t say they couldn’t suck _and_ be hot. It’s an unfair world we live in.”

Jungwoo rolled his eyes at his friend. But when Doyoung punched him in the arm to get him to focus, he flinched, irritated until he realized it was a heads up that Yukhei had noticed him. “Oh my god, he’s looking at me. I’m so embarrassed.” He looked away and shielded his face with his hand. “I puked on his floor, Doyoung. I can’t talk to him.”

“Good luck with that because he’s walking right toward us.”

“What? No. What are you talking abo—” He looked just in time to see Yukhei basically materialize in front of him. “Hi, Yukhei… what are you doing here?”

Yukhei chuckled and Jungwoo could’ve swore he heard angels sing. “I’m representing my frat. Our booth is right over there. Are you interested in joining a fraternity?”

Jungwoo didn’t say anything, he just blinked repeatedly until Doyoung jabbed him with his elbow. “Wha—oh, yeah. Um…  Lambda Phi Gamma.”

Yukhei lit up. “You’re interested in my frat? Why didn’t you say anything before? I can give you all the info—”

“Yeah, he wants _aaall_ the info.” It was Jungwoo’s turn to jab Doyoung. Smug, Doyoung chuckled and pretended to look around at all the other booths. “Hmm, there’s a lot of booths. Guess I’ll go explore. You two kids have fun now,” he said with a wink before leaving Jungwoo and Yukhei to themselves.

Jungwoo was so moritfied he could’ve _literally_ died. He couldn’t even bring himself to meet Yukhei’s eyes. He held his own arms awkwardly, trying desperately not to focus on how fast his heart was beating. God, why did that happen every time he was around Yukhei? Finally, he cleared his throat. “S-sorry about my friend,” he muttered.

“No worries. I’m actually kinda glad he left because I’ve been wanting to talk to you since the party.” Yukhei rubbed the back of his neck like he was nervous. “I didn’t get a chance to get your number… I’m happy to see you here.”

“Yeah…” Jungwoo laughed in that polite, shy way socially awkward people did when they didn’t know what to say but didn’t want to be rude. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to Yukhei, but his mind swam with flashbacks of the party and he couldn’t bring himself to say anything other than _‘I’m sorry I’m a loser and puked on your floor,’_ so he chose to say nothing.

Yukhei sensed Jungwoo was off. Maybe if he continued talking Jungwoo would feel less uncomfortable? “I, uh, had a good time, and I was wondering if you’d want to, uh, get together again sometime?”

Jungwoo frowned. _Get together?_ Like, hook up again? After all that, Yukhei just wanted to fuck? What, because he didn’t get to third base last time? Damnit, Doyoung was right. Frat boys all just wanted the same thing. He felt like an idiot for thinking Yukhei was any different.

“No! What kind of person do you think I am?” Jungwoo tried to hide his disappointment, but alas he wore his heart on his sleeve and couldn’t hide his true feelings even if he wanted to.

Confused, Yukhei stared at Jungwoo as if he were trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle. “Huh?”

“Here I am embarrassed about what happened because,” No, Jungwoo couldn’t admit his stupid little crush, not after this. “... _whatever,_ and all you’re thinking about is getting in my pants. God, Doyoung was right. I’m nothing more than an easy target for you.”

Yukhei’s body language softened. “No, Jungwoo, that’s not what I—”

“Save it.” Jungwoo masked his sadness with bitterness. He couldn’t let a player like Yukhei find out he’d been pined after since the neon party. Huffing, Jungwoo suddenly remembered why he was there in the first place—he needed info about Lambda Phi Gamma, but he sure as hell wasn’t asking Yukhei. “...I’ll get info about the frat from someone else.”

Like a reenactment of the party, Jungwoo left despite Yukhei’s gentle protests in search of a friend’s shoulder to cry on.

+

“So like… not to be _that_ person, but it sounds like you overreacted,” said Jeno with a mostly used-up cigarette hanging from his mouth. He didn’t look up from his DS because he was in the middle of a _very_ heated Pokemon Diamond battle.

Why Jeno had a habit of playing Pokemon and chain-smoking at the DSA every morning before his 10AM lecture was a mystery to Jungwoo, but nevertheless he and Doyoung followed him there like good minions. While Jeno almost killed a pack of Camel Blues, Doyoung and Jungwoo slurped their grande iced coffees—still, they looked out of place not smoking in the company of smokers, which always rubbed Doyoung the wrong way.

With both his arms and legs crossed, Doyoung looked as tightly wound as he sounded. “He did not! It was so obvious Yukhei just wanted to fuck.”

“Nah dude, sounds like he was just asking him out,” Jeno added, again distracted by the game.

Doyoung snatched the cigarette from Jeno’s lips and threw it to the ground. Jeno finally looked up, irritated. “You got lots of opinions today, don’t you? But none of them are helpful.”

“Tryin’ to catch up to you.” Jeno retorted, eye narrowing to slits. Doyoung mirrored him.

If Jungwoo learned anything in the past eight weeks of college, it was how to spot sexual tension. Being around Jeno and Doyoung made him a pro. He wondered if they knew how obvious they were. Maybe they did, but they ignored it; maybe they held out for their countdown instead of having fun in the meantime.

Jeno’s Infernape fainted in battle and he slumped back into the metal bench with an anguished sigh. “I swear to god, if I can’t catch the red Gyarados then what has any of this been for?”

The look on Doyoung’s face tipped Jungwoo off to interject. “Hey, so, let's get back to my problem. Rush Week is next week and I have to seem interesting and I’m probably gonna see Yukhei there and it’s gonna be the worst.”

Another cigarette was already between Jeno’s lips when he piped up. “You don’t know that Yukhei will be there.”

“Uh, yeah he will, he’s an officer,” Doyoung sneered. He relaxed the second Jeno flashed him a pretty smile before lighting the tip of his cigarette in the cup of his hand. Jeno didn’t see it, but Doyoung turned a soft shade of pink and looked away.

 _Sigh,_ biggest eye roll ever. Jungwoo stood up and put his hands on his hips. “Can you two stop bickering like an _old married couple_ and help me?”

Doyoung full-on blushed and Jeno glanced up from his DS, looking from Jungwoo to Doyoung back to Jungwoo like he was figuring out a riddle. Two hands wrapped around his iced coffee, Doyoung slurped pensively.

“Isn’t there a pool party? Don’t they always do that?” Jeno suggested, studying Doyoung the whole time. When did he get so cute?

Doyoung continued like wasn’t just outed by Jungwoo. “Oh yeah! The Rush Week pool party with all the frats and sororities! That’s perfect! I mean, you have to go to all the events if you want a better chance of getting in, but the pool party is def the best option.”

“Nooo! I can’t see Yukhei at a pool party. He’s too hot. That’s, like, hot boy overload. I’m supposed to be hating the hot guy, remember?” Jungwoo said, worrying his bottom lip and pacing a bit.

Jeno shrugged. “Well, really though, he didn’t do anything wrong. You just have your mind made up about him based on some shit Doyoung said. Just make your own way, man.” He directed his attention to Doyoung. “We all deserve a second chance.”

Doyoung tried not to pay attention to Jeno. Instead, he twisted the ends of his purple hair between his fingertips and smiled, other-directed, at Jungwoo. Jungwoo had half a mind to inquire further but surely that would lead down a rabbit hole he didn’t need to venture quite yet.

He had his _own_ rabbit hole to worry about. He had a strict one-rabbit-hole-at-a-time policy. Wow, okay, he’d file that as the _weirdest thought he ever had._

“...So I go to a bunch of Lambda Phi Gamma parties and convince them to let me in?” asked Jungwoo.

“Tell them you have a lot of money, they like mon— _Ow!”_

Doyoung punched Jeno in the arm, then smiled sweetly. “Just be yourself and forget about Yukhei. You’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” Jungwoo smiled sweetly in return, knowing damn well he couldn’t forget about Yukhei.

+

Jungwoo always thought a pool party with his peers would be a lot like the spring break videos he saw on MTV. Judging by all the girls skimpy bikinis and boys in boardshorts patterned with palm trees acting sloppy and drunk, he wasn’t wrong. It was just as wild as his first party at the frat house, except with a pool and poorly made margaritas.

Pool water the color of the sky looked cool and refreshing on a hot summer day, especially when half naked college students splashed around in it. Two frat boys vollied a beach ball over a group of people playing some weird game. Doyoung said they were playing a game called Chicken where girls sat on boys’ shoulders and wrestled one another into the water. After the second time a girl almost lost her bikini top, Jungwoo understood why the game was so popular with frat boys.

Still, he watched from a pool chair in a fortunately dry location, engrossed in the game like he had placed bets on a winner. People were so weird. He couldn’t look away if he wanted to. That was, until he sipped his margarita and tried not to spit out all the coarse salt coating his tongue. He was doing a bad job of it.

Doyoung laughed, flicking him on the forehead. “The salt is supposed to counteract the sweetness.” He demonstrated the so-called proper way of drinking a margarita.

“This drink is _not_ sweet,” Jungwoo grimaced, tongue out. “And that’s a terrible concept.”

“It’s a _popular_ concept,” Doyoung corrected like the smartass he was.

Spitting the rest of the salt off his tongue, Jungwoo placed the margarita on the pool deck next to his chair for it to never be seen again. “I hate it.”

“Hey, isn’t that Yukhei?” asked Doyoung, pushing down the bridge of his blue Raybans. Jungwoo looked at the pool just in time to see Yukhei dive into the deep end like a blur.

When Yukhei resurfaced, he shook water from his hair and slicked it back. Girls giggled and gossiped to each other as he swam over to the shallow end where everyone was hanging out. His height was never more apparent than when he stood and the water line met him at the hip instead of mid-stomach like the other guys. Droplets of pool water dripped down his lean body, causing him to glisten under the hot, midday sun. He shook his hair again, this time making it messy, and then slicked it back in what his frat brothers dubbed ‘the Bieber look.’

Like every other time he saw Yukhei, Jungwoo’s heart throbbed. That smoldering look was too hot, it made Jungwoo feel too good, and all those girls fawning over his crush made Jungwoo jealous. Casually, he tried to conceal a boner he definitely didn’t mean to pop at a public pool while internally battling himself over why he was even jealous in the first place.

“Damn, you better collect your man before I crush on him too.”

Jungwoo shot a glance at Doyoung who sipped his margarita like he had said nothing.

Jungwoo scoffed. “He’s not _‘my man.’_ ”

“Good thing because if he were I bet you’d be pretty jealous right now, huh?”

Jungwoo turned pink. “I am not jealous!”

“Didn’t say you were.” Doyoung took another sip of his margarita, and pretended he wasn’t the firestarter he was. Jungwoo didn’t realize he was pouting and blushing at the same time until Doyoung laughed. Sigh, he should’ve accepted Jeno to be his trusty fraternity advisor instead.

After the excitement died down a little and Doyoung’s attention was on his phone, Jungwoo snuck another look at the pool. In a cruel twist of fate, he made direct eye contact with Yukhei, panicked, looked away, felt very self-conscious of the boner in his swim trunks, blushed red, and panicked again. He focused on anything other than the pool, but it was hard to resist when Yukhei’s name ran through Jungwoo’s ears like a irresistible temptation.

_“Yukhei! Come on, dude, be on bottom!”_

Doyoung perked up from scrolling through his phone. “Wow. I called that wrong.”

Jungwoo’s dick surged. His blush was hot on his cheeks; he was sure he was an entirely new shade of red previously undiscovered. _“What?”_

Doyoung looked to the pool to see a busty brunette in a string bikini sit atop Yukhei’s broad shoulders for a new game of Chicken. “Oh, wait, not the bottom I was thinking of.” He winked and stuck out his tongue at Jungwoo.

Jungwoo gulped and covered his face with his hands, hiding his blush. The sound of sloshing water and laughter stirred him from his embarrassment. He peeked through his fingers at the pool only to see Yukhei simultaneously shoving one of his frat brothers and trying to balance the girl on his shoulders. She was wobbly but Yukhei seemed to be a sturdy base. From what Jungwoo could see between his fingers, it seemed she was intentionally rocking back and forth, halfheartedly shoving the blonde she was playing against. In fact, he totally saw the blonde grab the brunette’s bikini top and pull until— _oh shit,_ he’d never seen a topless girl before and they were jiggling and, oh God, she plopped backwards into the water with a big splash and was pressing up against Yukhei and now Jungwoo was undeniably jealous.

A bunch of horny frat bros hollered at the sight of big boobs. Testosterone hit the entire pool deck like a tsunami. Some girls frowned disapprovingly while others giggled and played up the exploitation. No matter what others did, Yukhei was noticeably uncomfortable being at the center of it all. Sure, he enjoyed tits too, but he wasn’t interested in making his sex life public; exhibitionism wasn’t his cup of tea.

Yukhei instinctively turned to Jungwoo, his heart sinking when he saw the disappointment on the boy’s face. Pouting, Jungwoo up and left his pool chair as Yukhei was flocked by his fellow frat brothers congratulating him on reaching ‘god tier status’ with the sorority girls. Wrangled into a headlock, he couldn’t follow Jungwoo wherever he vanished to, so he stayed and played along with his brothers with a fake smile.

A stunt like that didn’t do anything to help the player image of Yukhei Jungwoo had in his mind.

Jungwoo ended up hiding in the clubhouse bathroom trying to wash the grief from his face with sink water. His heart swelled in his chest just like it did every other time he encountered Yukhei. A painful rattling that surged throughout his entire body like an infection. It was an odd feeling to contrast with his usual hopeless pining and second-hand embarrassment. Actually, it kind of exacerbated all of them. Actually, no, he was just dying.

_Why did he have to go and like a fuckboy?_

The faucet leaked no matter how tight Jungwoo twisted the knob. Water droplets echoed in the small tiled space, which made the footsteps approaching outside seem like something from a creepy horror movie. When Jungwoo looked up, spooked, he saw Yukhei in the reflection of the mirror. They stared at each other through the mirror for a long minute until Jungwoo gulped and looked away, face heated and heart still pounding. He went to leave, but Yukhei grabbed him by the arm and shoved him against the wall like a scene straight out of a k-drama.

Jungwoo’s back against the wall, Yukhei slammed his palm beside Jungwoo’s head. “Are you avoiding me?” he asked in the sternest voice Jungwoo ever heard him speak in.

Jungwoo sucked in a surprised breath. His heart thumped louder, deeper. “Yes.”

“Why?”

Jungwoo bit his bottom lip and looked down at his feet. He felt like a kid again, felt childish and idyllic; chasing fireflies, watching cartoons, eating ice cream sandwiches; thinking love was magical. He looked at his bare wrist, then the tremble in his hands. “Because… because I like you. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know either.”

Yukhei approached him, all tall and lean and shirtless with skin like salted caramel and lips like cotton candy. His face was ridiculously close. Close enough for Jungwoo to realize Yukhei’s eyes weren’t really hazel, they were deep brown under colored contacts. The realization was oddly intimate, and made Jungwoo _feel_ different knowing Yukhei _was_ different. Like the Yukhei he saw in the pool and at Greek Night and all other Rush activities was a completely different person than who he saw in his bedroom at the frat house and right now.

 _“What would you do if I kissed you right now?”_ A deep rasp he felt in his bones.

Jungwoo’s chapped lips parted subconsciously as Yukhei went in for a kiss. He couldn’t resist him. He didn’t want to. Every cell in his body yearned to feel the younger boy’s hands all over him, making him feel electric like the first night they met. The weight of Yukhei’s body pushing him against the wall and melting around him like hot chocolate, hot and sweet and comforting, his lips moving slowly and carefully, making Jungwoo’s skin splotchy and breath heavy.

Pulling away, Jungwoo again looked down, unable to meet Yukhei in the eyes, unable to still his tremble. “I just don’t know what to do with...” _You, my feelings, my lust._ “I don’t know. This is a lot of new stuff at all once for me.”

Yukhei hummed and gently swept back a loose strand of blue hair from Jungwoo’s face. That was when he saw it—Yukhei’s wrist, his timer. His _timed-out_ timer.

Oh god, all this time Yukhei’s timer was timed out? As in he already met the person he was supposed to be with for the rest of his life. As in everything between him and Jungwoo wouldn’t matter in the end because Yukhei was already spoken for. As in all of this ultimately meant nothing from the very beginning. It was doomed to fail. It was all fake.

Emotions overwhelmed Jungwoo like riptide, pulling him under until he drowned in self-pity. He didn’t even realize he was crying until the bathroom A/C grazed his wet cheek. He quickly wiped his tears with the topside of his hand and pushed away from Yukhei, determined to not let him see him cry. When he collected himself enough to talk, he muttered a goodbye in passing but was stopped by Yukhei.

“Please don’t run away again, not after you tell me something like _that.”_ Jungwoo heard the hurt in Yukhei’s voice, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn around and acknowledge him. “I don’t want to pressure you, but I can’t stop thinking about you. We don’t have to do anything… I just want to spend time with you.”

A shaky sigh left Jungwoo’s lips as he looked over his shoulder. Eyes flickering down to Yukhei’s timer, tears streamed down his face. “You’re really cruel, you know.”

And he left. Again. Because he was the king of leaving.

 


	3. Sunshine Stories

“He has a timed-out timer!  _ I’m so stupid!” _ Jungwoo cried and plopped face-first onto his bed. He groaned into his pillow, fists bunching the corners of the pillowcase as he released his frustration. He was crying, Doyoung could tell by the way his body heaved, so he sat on the edge of the bed and patted Jungwoo on the back soothingly. 

Jeno sat with his legs crossed in the swivel chair at the desk they both shared. Since consoling people wasn’t his strongest quality, he stayed back while Doyoung comforted his sobbing roommate. “So what if he does?” he asked, trying to help in his own way. 

“It’s  _ timed out! _ ” Jungwoo shouted through his pillow, the cracking of his voice muffled but shrill.

Doyoung rubbed small circles into Jungwoo’s back. In a calm, reassuring voice, he said, “But Yukhei is  _ clearly _ into you. Either he doesn’t like his actual soulmate or…  _ you’re _ his soulmate.” 

Jungwoo shot up from the damp pillow and stared at Doyoung with watery, puffy eyes. “I can’t be his soulmate. I don’t have a timer. His wouldn’t go off if I didn’t have one. It’d technically be blank, right? No countdown?” 

From across the room Jeno flicked his Zippo lighter repeatedly, nothing but sparks igniting. “Nah, they fixed that like five years ago, dude.” Doyoung nodded, muttered  _ ‘it’s true,’ _ and pulled the corner of his lips into a lopsided smile. 

Jungwoo simply furrowed his eyebrows in response. Fixed  _ what? _ Blank timers? This new information clarified nothing. “What are you talking about?”

Doyoung grabbed Jungwoo’s wrist and upturned it. He drew an imaginary rectangle on it where a timer would be implanted. “Scientists upgraded the operating system of timers around five years ago. Before, if you didn’t have the timer implant but your soulmate did, their timer would be blank with no countdown. After the upgrade, if your soulmate had a timer but you didn’t, their timer would still show a countdown and you... just wouldn’t know anything, I guess.” 

“What the hell! That’s unfair! This is  _ my _ romantic destiny and I don’t even get to know what’s going on?!” Jungwoo crossed his arms over his chest and sighed shakily, newfound anger replacing former sadness. He wiped tears from his streaked cheeks. “What if I already met my soulmate? And they just didn’t say anything? Oh my god, what if they think I’m ugly and horrible?”

Jeno tilted his head and cocked a brow. “Or maybe you wouldn’t let him explain himself?” 

“Him? Oh…” Jungwoo trailed off, consumed by his thoughts. He paused to process everything, dissecting each minute detail of his brief time in college so far, from parties to classes to people he met. Real people were different from business people like his parents. He grew up so guarded by his lifestyle, by his parents, and by himself. He felt stupid for being so naïve. 

Maybe it wasn’t naïveté. Maybe he was hypercritical of himself and others. He spent so much time dreaming about independence, love, and happiness and scrutinizing himself for being trapped in a corporate future, and less time realizing he was shielding himself from things he dreamt of. Going to college was an opportunity he vied for, but he didn’t fully revel in the freedom. 

Maybe he was afraid of the freedom. Maybe he was afraid of love. 

He thought of Yukhei and his heart throbbed; he didn’t feel afraid anymore. 

Jungwoo took a deep breath in and exhaled through his nose. “I, uh… I think you guys are right—”

_ “Duh,”  _ Doyoung lilted, wedging it between Jungwoo’s impending heartfelt speech. 

Jungwoo stifled a giggle and continued. “Even if I’m not his soulmate... I like him and he seems to like me too.” 

“Agreed,” Jeno said matter of factly, directing his attention to Doyoung. They shared what seemed like a heated conversation with only their eyes, but Jungwoo was missing all the necessary details. 

“...Okay, great,” said Jungwoo. He stood up tall like a man ready to take on the world, or at least a semi-confident person who was inspired in the heat of the moment to take charge of his love life. Eying his friends, he capitalized on his brief braveness to call them on their bullshit. “Also, I don’t know what is going on between you two, but it’s reeeally obvious. And if I had to work out my issues, you do too.” 

Doyoung’s jaw went agape.  _ Did Jungwoo really just…? _

Jeno swiveled the other direction, trying not to laugh like he did when he was in an awkward situation. He’d never hear the end of it from Doyoung… 

But maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing if it meant getting Doyoung to finally address what Jungwoo brought up. 

+

Yukhei was on his third two-hour vaporwave mix of the night. Just listening to the rhythmic beats brought him nostalgia for a time he never knew; it helped him dissociate in the privacy of his dorm. He did this when he wasn’t particularly motivated to do anything but still wanted to do something. Kept his wandering mind from doing just that. 

Listening to music in the dark in his room was a hobby, right? Besides, it helped him clear his head, so it couldn’t be a bad thing,  _ right? _

The bluish-white glow of his timer lit up his face as he stared at it. On the mini, rectangular screen were several tiny dashes indicating it had indeed timed out. Not that he needed a piece of technology implanted in his wrist to tell him what he already knew for sure, but looking at it gave him reassurance. 

It was funny. Yukhei could so easily recall being younger and doing the very same thing as now—staring at his timer, pondering how  _ it  _ knew his love life better than he did. At the time, he was heartbroken by a pretty girl with braces and pigtails. He was so sure he’d never find true love again. A shattered heart could never be the same, he figured. But here he was, a grown ass man with a heart mended by one glance of his soulmate at a trashy frat party. 

A mended heart not reciprocated. Somehow, a shattered heart seemed better than that. 

_ Goddamnit, _ how could he have fucked up so much? He flopped onto his bed and covered his face with his palms, sighing out the built up pressure. SG Lewis’  _ Hurting _ crept into his ears and suffocated his heart with lyrics too relevant to be ignored. 

_ Hurting for your body _ __   
_ Hurting for your body and your soul _ __   
_ You really could be searching _ __   
_ Begging for a way to make me yours _ __   
_ Hurting for your body _ __   
_ Hurting for your body and your soul _ __   
_ But I know you had me _ _   
_ __ Begging for the power that you stole

A knock on the door. Reverie lost. 

“Yo, the meeting is in five minutes, dude. You coming?” It was Mark’s voice. A sophomore just like Yukhei studying the same degree. They had almost all their classes together since freshman year, but somehow Yukhei had better grades. Mark was a regular bro with regular bro interests in sports and cars and other cliche things. He was good for shallow conversation. Yukhei liked that quality about him. 

“Yeah...” Yukhei sat on the edge of his bed for a short while. He had to transition back into Lambda Phi Gamma Yukhei and crack jokes and be the social butterfly everyone relied on. “Yeah, be down in a minute.” 

“Hurry it up, fucker,” Mark snickered, thinking his pet name hilarious. 

Yukhei laughed and stabbed back at Mark. “Fuck you.”

“Fuck you too.” Mark shouted from halfway down the hallway. Bastard always had to get the last word. 

Yukhei stared at the spot on the bed where Jungwoo sat the night of the party. He tried not to be sad, he really did. He  _ couldn’t _ be. So he wasn’t. 

Yeah, that was what he told himself.

+

Burning ash crumbled into gray on the cement. Jeno once again absentmindedly missed the rim of the DSA ashtray because he was too immersed in his DS. 

The cigarette was almost spent anyway, but he'd suck down another before venturing back into the dorms. It wasn't that he was avoiding returning to his room, it was that Doyoung hung around a lot lately, often chatting up Jungwoo about class or the new burrito place downtown or Tumblr aesthetics, and while the company was nice, it felt weird. Having Doyoung around so much was weird.    
  
Maybe it was only weird for Jeno. Doyoung was his friend before Jungwoo came along and his company wasn't unwelcome, but things were different. Something about Jungwoo's soulmate drama forced skeletons out of the closet that had long since been buried deep.    
  
Jeno felt the haunting presence of those skeletons every time he looked at Doyoung. Doyoung appeared unaffected except for intermittent remarks sprinkled into Jungwoo's drama, cleverly disguised as sassy comments supporting Jungwoo instead of as shade at Jeno. Jeno knew better. He knew Doyoung best of all.    
  
What was only supposed to be one more cigarette turned to three until Jeno's entire pack was left empty. Interest in his DS depleted, and suddenly he was looking up at the stars in the night sky wishing he didn't clearly recall the distinct shape of the Aquarius constellation. He ran his fingertips over his timer as he gazed.    
  
"It's two in the morning. Why are you still out here?"   
  
A small, somber smile formed on Jeno's lips. It was Doyoung. Of course it was.    
  
"Smoking."   
  
Doyoung looked at the empty pack of Camels. Jeno finally turned to acknowledge him, exchanging the constellation for a glimpse of the real thing. "Why are you still here? Don't you have class in a few hours?"    
  
Doyoung nodded but was thrown off by how Jeno stared at him. He remembered that look fondly, felt the admiration through fluttering heartbeats. He sighed and watched Jeno flick his cigarette into the ashtray.    
  
Hesitation. A sigh. "Why couldn't we be happy?"   
  
Doyoung froze. "Jeno..."   
  
"Why was it so hard for you? What was wrong with me?"   
  
"Nothing is wrong with you,” Doyoung said, hurt and offended. “But look at your timer... look at mine. We aren't meant to be. It hurts me, but we just aren't."    
  
Happy-go-lucky Jeno’s mood darkened. His jaw clenched. His fists clenched. "You say that, but why are you making passive aggressive remarks at me? I wasn't the one who hurt you. You made this choice for us. And now I have to see your face everyday and pretend to not be heartbroken while you talk about the fake fairytale magic of timers with Jungwoo."   
  
"Jeno, stop," Doyoung insisted, avoiding the topic like he always did. He hated how meek he felt in this moment. Jeno stripped away all his protective layers to reveal the unrealistically idealistic, soft-hearted hopeless romantic beneath the sass. He couldn’t look Jeno in the eyes, not like this. Not again.    
  
Jeno stood, body tense, voice warbling, soul quaking, heart bleeding, vulnerability welling his eyes with tears. He was fucking furious. "He's up there crying about what a bullshit piece of technology says instead of talking to the person he's crying over. A timer will never tell me how I feel about you because I know,  _ I know _ with my fucking heart how much I lov—"   
  
"Stop,  _ please,” _ Doyoung shouted back as he finally met Jeno’s piercing stare. Tears ran down his face, but he was angry too. When Jeno relented, Doyoung hugged himself and stared at the ground, avoidant once more.

Jeno calmed himself with a few deep breaths. He looked out at the night as if it would give him a clue of what to do next. Doyoung’s choked sobs made him acutely aware of how heated he really got. Fuck, he felt guilty. Fuck, he wanted a cigarette. No. He couldn’t do this again. Whenever they got to this point, they fell into their detached coping behaviors and nothing got solved. He fended off the twitching of his fingers, thankful now that his pack of smokes fell to the ground in his fit of anger. 

He dropped to his knees in front of Doyoung, placating his itching fingertips by affectionately touching the ridge of Doyoung’s knuckles. Gently, he explained himself, "I love you for real, now, regardless of this timer. This timer means nothing to me. I don’t know my soulmate, but I don’t need to know them to understand what love feels like."

“I know.” A single tear ran down the apple of Doyoung’s cheek. He smiled weakly. “I know…” 

+

Even though Doyoung attended all the rush events and might as well have seen the process through to the end, he rejected the one and only bid he received. The petty boy, the only reason he rejected it was because he received just one; he felt himself deserving of  _ at least _ five plus. Clearly mad and doing a poor job hiding it, Doyoung went on a rant about how he’d rather join a sorority because, simply put, _ ‘squad goals’  _ before huffing and walking out of the dorm. 

That left Jungwoo to attend the bid rally by himself. It was time to be an adult and handle his business solo, or at least that was what Doyoung said when Jungwoo begged him a second time to go. Jeno offered a consolation gift of precisely one cigarette, but that left Jungwoo regretting his life choices as he hacked up a lung. 

So as other pledges sat in cliques, he sat alone in the big auditorium. He resisted the urge to nervously pick at his nails, but the habit was hard to kick. Instead, he wiped his sweaty palms on his tailored Tommy Hilfiger khaki shorts, feeling woefully out of place. He  _ looked _ out of place, too; he was the only boy in a preppy pink Polo button-up. Truly a stranger in a strange land. 

The land of topic wasn’t particularly spectacular, just an average auditorium on the second floor of the student union. Sorority girls spruced it up a smidge, but decorating off-white walls with holographic Greek letters and paper ribbons was a little too 2000. And, unlike rush night, organizations weren’t divided into tables. They sat in assigned sections of an assembly of tables pushed together in the shape of a U that faced a stage dubbed as such with more tacky, holographic letters. A bundle of multicolored balloons were tied off on both sides of the stage, making the vibe feel more like a child’s birthday party than a Greek bid rally. EDM boomed from speakers placed around the auditorium, elevating the child’s party to a bigger child’s party. 

The whole thing was  _ exceptionally _ perplexing to Jungwoo. 

One by one different sororities and fraternities shared the stage, each announcing their newest pledges and throwing a t-shirt with their respective Greek letters to the newbies. It didn’t surprise Jungwoo that some organization members were too drunk to function, but it did make him grateful his dad didn’t ask him to join that type of frat. After the way the cigarette fiasco turned out, he didn’t think his liver could meet the same demise. 

When it was Lambda Phi Gamma’s turn, Jungwoo was so nervous and excited that he almost stopped breathing. His nails were picked, his palms were sweaty, his anxiety was a loud shriek in the back of his mind, but he was so ready for this moment. 

This moment was the  _ only _ thing that permitted his freedom from a life of business and politics. It gave him friends and memories, laughter and embarrassment, his first kiss and his first romantic touch, his first cigarette (yeah, it was peer pressure; who knew peers were so convincing?), his first all-nighter, and a real pool party with salty margaritas and real topless girls. This very moment gave him all of those moments, and now it was finally going to actualize.

Jungwoo couldn’t wait to tell his father that his son finally did something he could be proud of. 

Better yet, he could confront Yukhei like an adult. Shake his hand, smile and nod, be mature and push aside his feelings to handle business. It had been a month since the pool party anyway, that was more than enough time to quit being so naive and get real. If all those girls in the 90s sitcoms he watched growing up could do it, so could he. 

Jungwoo’s name was called and he made his way to the stage. When he got there, he was shocked how many people in the crowd were busy playing on their phones instead of respectfully acknowledging each pledge like he had done for every group prior. Was that what Jeno meant by saying he was alien from his peers? Still, he hid his frown in a toothy smile and greeted the first Lambda Phi Gamma officer of the line-up, Mark. 

He went down the line accordingly, treating each interaction like a business transaction. Truth be hold, he never felt more like his father. Each greeting colder than the prior, Jungwoo was second-guessing himself until he happened upon the final officer. A familiar, handsome face equal in height to him. Damn it, he couldn’t tame the butterflies. 

“Hello, new pledge. I am Wong Yukhei, the Magister. Welcome to Lambda Phi Gamma. Here is your shirt.” Yukhei handed a red t-shirt with ΛΦΓ in gold lettering to Jungwoo. He conducted himself professionally, and Jungwoo was impressed at how proper and convincing the guy could really be. It was clear under the fuck boy front, Yukhei took his fraternity seriously. 

Unfortunately for Jungwoo, he found that quality adorable. 

Panicking, he quickly turned away and kind of jogged down the small set of steps, literally fleeing from the awkwardness. Then he felt stupid for fleeing. He couldn’t have just handled the situation like a mature person? Damn it, right after he was on his high horse about being an adult, too. Thanks anxiety, as if adulting wasn’t already hard enough. Worse, he embarrassed himself (again) in front of the boy he definitely didn’t still have feelings for.  _ Ugh. _ Major ugh. 

Sticking to theme, Jungwoo avoided eye contact with everyone, especially Yukhei, until the end of the rally. When people started getting up to leave, he was already acting on his elaborate plan to escape. But, naturally, there was the variable he always specifically accounted for but somehow always miscalculated: Yukhei’s interception. 

Well, really, it was Yukhei standing by the door gathering all the Lambda Phi Gamma pledges and Jungwoo unwittingly walking right into the trap. 

“Hey, Jungwoo, are you going to the afterparty?” asked Yukhei casually. It was hard to believe he was so normal after what happened the last time they talked. 

_ No. _ “Uh…” Jungwoo stuttered. All Lambda Phi Gamma eyes were on him. Shit, it would look bad if he didn’t go, right? Especially after just getting accepted? Sigh, yeah it would. “For sure,” he said with a fake grin. 

Yukhei lit up like he always did. How was he so relaxed? Last time he said some heavy shit, but right now he was conversing with ease the way extroverts did. “That’s awesome. Can’t wait to see you there!”

Jungwoo half-nodded and half-smiled. “Same.” 

After side-eying the other fraternity brothers, Yukhei’s laid back demeanor changed. “Hey, uh…” His tone was softer and less confident. “I hope you’ll give me the chance to talk to you later.” 

Jungwoo silently begged for Doyoung to pop out from around the corner to save the day. 

“...For sure."

+

Another night, another Lambda Phi Gamma party. No neon and splattered paint this time, just countless countertops littered with countless cups. Well, alright, there was the not-so-subtle gobs of soap bubbles and foam raining down like a lemon-scented blizzard, but otherwise everything was totally average.  

It was Mark’s idea to host a foam party because he liked it when the soap soaked into the girls’ shirts and made everything  _ delectably _ sheer. It also made everything dangerously slippery, but apparently safety wasn’t as important as wet titties. 

The pervert got exactly what he wanted, too: girls in white crop tops and ultra short shorts covered head to toe in water and foam, their vibrant bikini tops a tempting pop of color beneath their now-transparent shirts, the strings of their bikini bottoms poking out from their waistbands as an invitation to  _ play. _ Or at least, that’s how Mark took it—hell, most of the frat boys looked at it way. 

Yukhei wasn’t as interested in sexy bikinis on soapy girls, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to see Jungwoo’s goods underneath drenched clothes. Better yet, what if Jungwoo just stripped of his shirt altogether? He’d love to devour that boy’s body with his hungry eyes piece by piece, touch him and kiss him on the dance floor like the first night they met, see Jungwoo’s pretty pout and pretty eyes masked by wet, blue bangs. God, he was  _ so _ hot. 

_Ahem, shit, okay… calm down, Yukhei._ _First, why so thirsty?_ _Second, it’s been several hours into the party and still no sight of Jungwoo. He probably isn’t coming,_ he rationalized. The frat boy was lost in his thoughts, his brain waging war with his heart and his dick. His dick was painting explicit pictures his heart added emotion to, and his brain was vetoing the entire charade. He sighed and ran a hand through his blondish hair. It was all extremely, unnecessarily complicated. 

One thing was clear, though: everything was over before it ever started, and he’d have to live his whole life regretting scaring off his soulmate. 

Downtrodden, Yukhei snatched a half-full bottle of tequila from the drink table and chugged most of it in seconds flat. Naturally, the act attracted a lot of attention from his frat brothers. They simultaneously challenged him to finish the whole bottle with the super bro-y chant of  _ ‘Chug! Chug! Chug!’ _ accompanied by vigorous fist pumps. Honestly, Yukhei was here for the stupid, mindless partying, so he embraced the revelry. Bottoms up! He gulped down the very last drop and gasped at the burn in his throat, immediately regretting the impulse decision as his brothers hyped him up like a pack of crazy hyenas. 

Yellow and blue party lights merged into a bright emerald that really fucked with his vision. Shit, he shouldn’t have drank all that alcohol so fast. Instant regret. He was going to die a fuckboy meme; immortalized by a Snapchat series; written into Lambda Phi Gamma history as  _ that _ guy. 

“Yo, yo, Yukhei, dude, isn’t that the guy?” asked Mark as he repeatedly smacked Yukhei on the shoulder. He was arguably just as shitfaced as Yukhei, if his lopsided New York Yankees hat and shit-eating grin were any indicator.

Movements slowed, it took Yukhei a few lagged seconds to connect Mark smacking his shoulder to a tall guy with blue hair awkwardly dancing with two sorority girls. He squinted to discern it better, but obviously that didn’t clear his vision one bit; yet for some reason his heart fluttered a lot like it did when he first saw Jungwoo. “Oh shit, you’re right, bro. Do I… do I look okay?” 

Mark quirked a brow. “The fuck? I don’t know, man, you look lit as fuck, bro.” 

“Cool, cool,” Yukhei said, accepting that being called ‘lit as fuck’ by Mark probably wasn’t a good thing. He stared at Jungwoo talking to the girls with laggy vision, surprised that none of his angsty thoughts from earlier surfaced. He thought for sure seeing his soulmate with girls would make him jealous, but he was more distracted by how hot Jungwoo looked than anything else. 

Jungwoo wore a tight, white shirt and even tighter green, printed shorts with high socks and white high top Converse. He looked like a model straight out of a 1980s sports fashion catalog. The vibrancy of his sapphire hair had faded, giving his naturally dark hair tones of silvery-blue in certain lighting. It was darker now, though, because his hair was wet. Soap and foam clung to random parts of his body, saturating the material there. His white shirt was practically see through, his pants revealed the outline of his briefs, and his socks suctioned to his calves. 

The more the frat boy gawked, the more Jungwoo’s appearance went from 1980s fashion model to 1980s porn star. 

Yukhei wheezed—hell, he felt like he was going into cardiac arrest. Therein lied his dilemma: he couldn’t approach Jungwoo like a drooling teenager with a raging boner. Talk about a turn off… Also, wasn’t that the entire reason Jungwoo rejected him in the first place? He sighed and slammed back another shot, stupidly thinking more alcohol would grant him clarity. 

Instead of clarity, he received blind, impish bravery.  

Just like that, Yukhei found himself walking over to Jungwoo like a man with a plan, but he was in fact woefully planless. No matter! When in doubt, just be charming and charismatic, like he did when he failed to do a presentation for class and had to wing the whole thing when he went up to present. Professors always gave him A’s for that, so maybe it’d be equally as successful with Jungwoo? Yeah, solid logic. 

“Yo! What’s up, man? Glad you could make it,” Yukhei shouted like a belligerent buffoon, not a trace of charisma to be heard. 

Jungwoo whipped his head to acknowledge the drunk frat boy. Ugh, Yukhei looked utterly shitfaced. Jungwoo side-eyed the girls as they covered their mouths to hide their laughter. Were they laughing at Yukhei? Rude. “Um… yeah, interesting party theme…” He gulped and regarded the girls. “Hey, it was a pleasure talking with you… but I, uh, gotta do frat stuff now.”

The girls shot each other annoyed looks and shrugged before walking off. Jungwoo watched them leave, feeling rude for asking them to leave like that. When they were out of sight, he glanced at Yukhei only to find the frat boy had been staring at him the whole time. The way he bit his lower lip made Jungwoo blush and swallow hard.  

“You know it’s you, right? It timed out when I saw you,” Yukhei blurted, catching Jungwoo off guard. His puppy dog eyes were wide and adorably pitiful. 

“Excuse me?” Jungwoo questioned. Yukhei simply lifted his wrist and bared his timer to Jungwoo. Surprising to no one, it was blank. Jungwoo narrowed his eyes with scrutiny, feeling jilted. “Okay, and?”

Yukhei took a deep breath. He wasn’t so sure of himself anymore. It was entirely possible Jungwoo moved on, but he didn’t want to give up hope. He couldn’t, wouldn’t give up on his soulmate. He unabashedly grabbed Jungwoo’s hand and pressed it to his chest above his thumping heart. “ _ And _ I feel what you feel, and I care a whole fucking lot.”

Jungwoo felt tears coming and quickly downcasted his gaze. He withdrew his hand and tried to erase the sensation of Yukhei’s beating heart from his fingertips. “Stop playing with me, Yukhei.”

“I’m not! I never was. I was serious about you from the start.” Yukhei said almost pleadingly. The weakness in his voice made Jungwoo look up. With a gentle smile, Yukhei added, “I know you think I’m some obnoxious frat boy player or whatever, but my heart hasn’t stopped beating for  _ you. _ This shit real.”

“...well, that was _ almost _ poetic,” Jungwoo mumbled, a cute smile split across his lips. Yukhei laughing at himself made Jungwoo laugh at him too. “I take it English Comp wasn’t your best class?” 

Jungwoo glanced down shyly, scandalized at the sass that left his lips—Doyoung was rubbing off on him, apparently—but Yukhei ducked and wove his head until he found Jungwoo’s eyes and flashed a big smile, causing Jungwoo to smile big back at the endearing childishness of it. 

“What was that? Did you just  _ tease _ me?” Yukhei asked flirtatiously, and Jungwoo’s cheeks were red hot. He felt lame for blushing and for smiling when Yukhei was so obviously trying to get him to smile and  _ ugh, _ he couldn’t control himself around the frat boy because he was too damn charming. 

Jungwoo shrugged and channeled his inner Doyoung. “Well, someone has to tease the party boy…” 

Yukhei opened his mouth in mock shock. He was kind of turned on by the teasing. “Hey, I got my shit together. I’m a top officer now. I’m a real catch, you know.”

“Oh my god…” Jungwoo’s cheeks hurt from how mortified and shy he was, but he couldn’t stop smiling. Damnit, he was supposed to be mad or whatever, but he just couldn’t keep up his guard when everything about their chemistry was perfect and natural.

Yukhei cooed as he plucked the damp sleeve of Jungwoo’s shirt, “You’re a real catch too, pretty boy.” 

It was that exact line that had Jungwoo reeling Yukhei in by his wrist and kissing him. 

He was cursed by his internal dialogue to liken his random act of boldness to a character development arc in those 90s sitcoms. Maybe with added audience reactions like a collective  _ ‘ooooohh!’ _ The thought was fleeting as Yukhei’s tongue swiped over Jungwoo’s bottom lip, politely asking for an invitation to explore further. The new pledge readily, happily, eagerly accepted. 

It was inexplicably exhilarating to desire a passionate kiss and to not feel guilty about wanting it. It was even better to want to have sex and not feel like a shameful slut for doing so. His whole life he was taught love was bad, love was weakness, and that by extension, sex for pleasure was needless. But fuck, how could anyone look at their soulmate and not want a taste?

Again, it was Jungwoo who kissed Yukhei first as they made their way to Yukhei’s dorm room, hard and sloppy and totally unskilled, but Yukhei laughed between kisses, enjoying Jungwoo’s unkempt desire. 

He still found it outrageously hot that Jungwoo was a virgin—something he was very vocal about last time they almost hooked up. What was different this time, though, was that Jungwoo wasn’t shy about being unskilled, or about being a virgin, or about his attraction to Yukhei, which the frat boy found to be exceptionally hotter than the whole virgin extravaganza.  

When they reached Yukhei’s dorm, the frat boy practically shoved him into the room and onto the bed, hasilty slamming shut the door as he pulled off his damp shirt and threw it against the wall with a wet squelch. He stopped and bit his lip when Jungwoo situated himself at the edge of the bed, staring at him with lusty eyes and a kiss-swollen pout that made his lips evermore tempting to taste once more. 

“How are you so gorgeous? I mean really, it’s incredible,” Yukhei whispered, entranced. 

Jungwoo removed his own shirt and tossed it to the floor, then leaned back on the bed like a pinup model on display. His abdomen stretched as he laid back, showcasing creamy skin and pink nipples and a cute belly button and sharp hipbones. Sapphire blue hair tousled over his face, he asked, “Why are you still talking?” 

And for the first time, Yukhei didn’t have a witty answer. 

He eagerly unzipped his pants and kicked out of them, standing before Jungwoo with a major tent pitched in his patterned, fusca boxers. He had the most aroused facial expression Jungwoo had ever seen, causing a soft moan to leave his lips as Yukhei carded through his hair. Shit, he was so whipped for this boy and he didn’t even realize it until now. And then he sat up to get a better view, only to discover the most absurd image so far… 

“...do you really have tiny  _ pineapples _ on your boxers?”

Yukhei cackled. “Can you just suck my dick please? Or I’ll suck yours, it doesn’t really matter at this point.” 

Tilting his head in curiosity, Jungwoo slid off the bed and slumped to his knees. Yukhei’s gasp was silent but the rise in his chest was apparent, motivating Jungwoo to persevere through his nervousness. His hands ran up the frat boy’s thighs, fingers hooked the hem of pineapple boxers, and he pulled until Yukhei’s dick popped free. His moaned reaction made Yukhei moan, but the latter’s was louder when Jungwoo curled a hand around the shaft and hesitantly, cutely, pumped the length. Sexy noises gave him the confidence he needed to taste it, earning him another moan as incentive.

Jungwoo experienced a lot of firsts that night. Learning everything from television shows and movies, corporations and business people, the internet… none of it prepared him for real life. Everything he ever imagined life to be was incomprehensibly different from how it really was—-it was so much better when he just let himself do and be and feel and experience. The real world wasn’t perfect, but it gave him things that made it  _ almost _ perfect. 

Or it gave him things he thought he’d never experience—like a mindblowing orgasm.  

Jungwoo smiled up at the ceiling fan of Yukhei’s dorm as he lie naked on crumpled bed sheets. He’d been laughing at himself for being so naive for so long. He never felt happiness as pure as self-deprecating happiness. Well, maybe cuddling into his soulmate on his soulmate’s bed that smelled like sex and lemons was pretty damn spectacular too. 

Yukhei had an arm over Jungwoo’s shoulders and kept him close. He playfully poked Jungwoo in the ribs, causing the blue haired boy to giggle. “Hey, you didn’t tell me you were a Kim legacy. I could’ve used a sugar daddy like three semesters ago.” 

“Oh,” Jungwoo batted his eyelashes at the frat boy. “I can pay for your classes if you need help?”

After several seconds staring at Jungwoo’s resolute face, Yukhei said, “Oh, you’re serious? I appreciate it, but I can’t take your money. I was just teasing you.”

“Are you sure?” asked Jungwoo as he perked up. The sweetheart, he was  _ seriously _ considering paying Yukhei’s tuition. 

The frat boy was not going to take Jungwoo’s money, but damn was the offer tempting. Instead, he’d just blame his mountain of student loans on his stubbornness. Naturally, he opted to settle the offer with honest humor. “Yes but no… Answering this question causes me a lot of physical distress.” 

Jungwoo giggled. “You’re cute.”

Yukhei’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “Did you just call me cute?  _ You’re _ cute.” Jungwoo scrunched his nose and hid his face in a pillow. Amused, Yukhei rolled over onto his stomach and playfully tugged at a corner of the pillow until one of Jungwoo’s eyes peeked over the edge. “Hey, go on a date with me?” he asked, suddenly serious.

“I—”

“You like ice cream? Let’s go for ice cream,” he added like an excited schoolboy. 

Jungwoo realized how vulnerable Yukhei looked and pulled the pillow from his face. He couldn’t say no to a face like that. With a giant grin, he agreed. “Okay… but only if I can get vanilla with rainbow sprinkles.”

“Holy shit, you really are my soulmate!” Yukhei screeched, and Jungwoo covered his face with his hands as he cackled at the frat boy’s wild mood changes. 

+

Doyoung was filing his nails, minding his business watching True Blood, drooling over Eric Northman when Jeno bursted into the room like the Kool Aid man. Well, not literally bursting through a wall dressed as a giant pitcher of red drink. More so dramatically swinging open the door and posing defiantly. Either way, his presence was abrupt and loud. 

“Um… what the actual fuck are you doing?” sassed Doyoung, scowling as he paused his favorite sex scene dream sequence between Eric and Sookie. 

“Doin’ what I gotta do.”

Doyoung scanned Jeno from head to toe. “And what is  _ that _ exactly?”

“I’m wooing you.” Jeno was dressed in a nice shirt with random, silly patterns across a white canvas. His undershirt was the same color white as his backward snapback. The dark blue denim of his jeans made the bold lines on his overshirt pop. The green belt around his waist was one of Doyoung’s favorites on him. Of course, his toothy smile pulled the whole outfit together. In his hand was a bouquet of a dozen red roses, to which he offered Doyoung as he bowed like a gentleman. 

“Wooing?” Doyoing parroted as he accepted the roses. They were so lovely and fragrant he couldn’t help but at least smile a little.

“Yes.” Jeno cleared his throat and fished a rolled up piece of notebook paper from his back pocket. “Ahem, I have prepared a haiku.” 

“Jeno, I do not want to listen to your shitty English homework haiku.” 

“No, no, no. This is for you. _ You _ were my muse.” Jeno reassured as Doyoung rolled his eyes for him to get it over with. Jeno wasn’t dissuaded, however, because he knew Doyoung liked cheesy, romantic stuff like this no matter how much he pretended to hate it. With sparkly eyes, he unfurled the note and read with theatric passion: 

__ “You are amazing  
_ Timers are bad; hate them  
_ __ Give me another chance.”

Doyoung’s mouth fell to the floor. “Oh my god?” The haiku was hilariously terrible and hopelessly adorable. He couldn’t stop laughing, and the pout on Jeno’s face was so precious he wanted to hold out a little longer just to see how desperate the boy could get. 

“It’s good, right? I even used a semicolon, but I don’t know if you could hear it through my impeccable inflection.” 

Doyoung facepalmed, still laughing. “You’re stupid.”

Jeno’s gaze wavered from Doyoung’s handsome face to the floor. Suddenly he was very unsure of himself. He was willing to be an idiot for Doyoung any day of the week, but he just couldn’t handle being rejected  _ again. _ “Seriously, will you give me another chance?” 

Amused, Doyoung stood up and pinched Jeno’s chin between his fingers, directing the other’s face to look at him. His hand trailed down to the timer embedded in Jeno’s wrist and swiped his thumb over it. He loved when carefree Jeno looked so serious, especially just for him. 

“Of course I will, you idiot,” he said, kissing the most excited boy on the planet on the cheek. 

+

A hot Sunday afternoon called for a visit to the ice cream shop down the street. Twisty Treat was Jeno’s favorite for no reason other than the building itself was the shape of an ice cream cone—cake cone walls with a chocolate vanilla swirl roof lit up by rainbow sprinkle decorative lights. It was a popular Instagram hotspot, so Doyoung wasn’t opposed to hiking up his follower count posting a cute selfie by the iconic building. Plus, if they made it just in time to catch early bird specials, they’d be able to order four two-scoop, three-topping ice creams in either a chocolate dipped waffle cone or a sprinkle crusted cake cone for pennies on the dollar. 

And since Jungwoo was supposed to go on an ice cream date with Yukhei anyway, the circumstances were suspiciously convenient for a double date. 

The double date was Doyoung’s idea, of course. 

While Jungwoo and Doyoung gave their orders to the employee, Yukhei and Jeno sat at a picnic table nearby. Jeno tried not to stare at how great Doyoung looked in his tight shorts while Yukhei blatantly stared at Jeno. When Jeno caught him, he fessed up. “Don’t I know you? You look familiar…” 

“Yeah, I used to be in Sigma Phi Epsilon…” Jeno confessed, nodding the way people do when they knew the connection all along while the other person suddenly recalled. He never told anyone that he used to be a frat boy because it was only one semester and it didn’t really count. It also contributed to Doyoung’s hatred of frat boys because, admittedly, Jeno was a fuck boy extraordinaire and a total heartbreaker. 

“No shit? Wow, dude, I knew it. I mean, you chose the wrong frat to be in but hey, once a brother always a brother,” Yukhei said as he initiated  _ the _ universal slapping-pulling handshake all frat bros seemed to inherently do; the fact that Jeno reciprocated it proved the theory. 

Jungwoo was the first to return with his and Yukhei’s ice creams in hand. “Black cherry dipped in cherry sauce covered in crushed almonds for you,” he said as he gave Yukhei his very cherry dessert. “That’s a lot of cherry, don’t you think?” he teased as he licked the side of his waffle cone to stop it from dripping down his hand. 

“Oh yeah?” Quirking a brow, Yukhei looked his boyfriend in the eyes and licked a fat stripe up his ice cream. “I like cherry flavored things, you know that~” He winked, and Jungwoo turned away with a fire hot blush on his cheeks. The others didn’t even need to know the secret reference for Jungwoo to be absolutely mortified. 

_ “Gross. _ Anyway…” Doyoung lilted as he approached the table. Taking a seat, he gave his boyfriend his ice cream. “Basic bitch chocolate for the basic bitch.”

Jeno scoffed, but he loved Doyoung’s sassiness. “Chocolate is a classic for a reason. Who orders a cotton candy swirl with marshmallows, gummy bears, and whipped cream anyway?”

“Sophisticated people, you heathen!” Doyoung exclaimed. Everyone busted out laughing. 

No laugh tracks, no hired business partnerships, just real, genuine laughter. 

All his life Jungwoo strived for a television romance—silly and perfect and happily ever after—and, sitting at a picnic table with friends  _ and _ his soulmate, he got exactly that. It wasn’t hidden in money and success and power. It wasn’t buried under cryptic messages and weird labyrinths of love. It was hidden in plain sight… all it took was embracing his individuality, opening himself up to others, and believing in the good he fostered within himself.

Happiness was his, friendship was his, love was his… 

Yukhei smiled sweetly and reached out to wipe melted ice cream off the corner of Jungwoo’s mouth with his thumb, then winked in that precious, sexy way he did that made Jungwoo’s heart flutter. 

_ Yukhei _ was his, forever and always. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all who have been patient with me while I write this! I hope you enjoy this last chapter ♡ 
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr @dirtyretrowrites or Twitter @xdirtyretro


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